WORLD

Having spent much of her career railing against bureaucrats and financial elites, Italy's new right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni now has to get them on side - and it is not proving easy.

The 75-year-old was scheduled to be sworn in at 5 pm (0900 GMT), becoming the country's fourth leader in as many years.

The authorities have grown increasingly heavy-handed in their response, as the demonstrations have spread across the country and swelled into a broad movement against the theocracy that has ruled Iran since 1979.

"For us, this is a great opportunity to deepen and broaden our links, links that are historic in many, many ways," President Ramaphosa told reporters.

The government supports the trade and cooperation agreement (TCA) struck with the EU, he told the influential cross-party Treasury Committee in parliament.

After years of decline, demand for the polluting fossil fuel has surged this year as Europe scrambles to replace Russian gas, and coal miners are making money hand over fist.

The dramatic rescue captured on camera Wednesday evening revived hopes that survivors could still be pulled alive from the wreckage days after the strong tremor that hit the West Java town of Cianjur on Monday, killing at least 271 people.

The numbers are relatively small when compared with China's vast population of 1.4 billion and the caseloads seen in Western countries at the height of the pandemic.

The research, which was jointly published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the decline was a major setback in eliminating the deadly disease.

The protest in the north of Mitrovica -- long a flashpoint between Serbs and ethnic Albanians -- took place as Serbian and Kosovar officials try to find a solution to a row over number plates.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, made the remarks in a statement carried by KCNA, calling South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol "and other idiots" a "faithful dog" of the United States.

Working with Europol, the FBI and other law enforcement worldwide, suspects were nabbed in the Netherlands, Australia, France and Ireland, while servers were shuttered in the Netherlands and Ukraine.

Regional efforts are underway to resolve the conflict, but the fighting has reignited diplomatic tensions between Congo and neighbouring Rwanda.

On Monday, Mali declared that all NGOs financed or supported by France would be banned -- a move that strikes at vital aid work in the deeply troubled country.

Musicians from the continent's francophone countries are now looking to cash in on the boom.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi had been meeting Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta in Luanda on Wednesday as tensions soared between the neighbours amid bloody militia violence on their border.

Russia unleashed a missile barrage across Ukraine on Wednesday, killing 10 people, forcing shutdowns of nuclear power plants and cutting water and electricity supply in many places.

The Nepali Congress of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has won 13 of 22 results declared, with three each going to the main opposition Nepal Communist Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party and the newly formed National Independent Party (NIP).

It said 400 loudspeakers had been installed in different parts of Kabul "so the people could listen to the Azan at the same time".

The unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court torpedoed the Scottish nationalist government's push to hold a second plebiscite next year.

Turkey vows intent 'stronger than ever' to secure Syrian border

It is also the seat of a branch of the Ukraine Orthodox Church that was previously under Moscow's jurisdiction but severed ties after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

In videos shared on Weibo and Twitter that AFP has verified, hundreds of workers can be seen marching on a road in daylight. Some were confronted by riot police and people in hazmat suits.

They distributed video of emergency service workers trying to free a man trapped waist-deep in the rubble of what appeared to be the destroyed maternity ward.

In a statement following virtual meetings for its annual review of China's economic policies, the IMF said it was maintaining GDP growth forecasts issued in October.

Ten crews of Ukrainian service personnel and engineers underwent a six-week training programme in the UK, as part of the "first helicopter capability the UK has donated to Ukraine", the ministry said.

Customers are plumping for environmentally-friendlier travel and taxi drivers are switching to machines that, above all, are less expensive to buy and operate.

The twin blasts struck half an hour apart, police said, noting that explosives experts were at the scene with police and forensic scientists "collecting evidence and scanning the area for suspects."

Pervasive corruption in planning processes and poor building standards are a toxic mix, industry officials say.